Welcome from the Executive Director

Dear Friends,

We’re changing up the weekly postcards from the San Francisco Girls Chorus again this week. As our Artistic Director Lisa Bielawa is off on another global musical adventure, I’m writing to you from home. So, welcome to the new Chorus School year and the new SF Girls Chorus concert season!

There’s a lot going on at SFGC this year. From our upcoming historic concerts with the early music ensemble TENET on October 30 and November 1, to our collaboration with opera superstar Deborah Voigt at Davies Symphony Hall in December, to a spring performance of Brahms and Haydn with young cellist Joshua Roman at the newly refurbished Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to premiere a program of works, written specifically for the SF Girls Chorus, at New York’s Lincoln Center in June--it doesn’t get much more exciting, dynamic or musically satisfying, than this.

There are also many new faces at the Chorus this year, including our new Level III Director, Lucik Aprahamian, and Level IV Director, Anne Hege. On the administrative side, we have a new Communications and Marketing team, including Deborah Hersh, our Communications Manager, and Kara Whittington, who joins us in a new role as Digital Marketing Consultant. We also have a new Director of Development, Samantha Starr, a returning Bay Area native who happens to have attended college and sung with several SFGC alumnae. Next time you’re at 44 Page Street, please stop by the 2nd floor to say hello.

Speaking of our home facility at 44 Page Street, also known as the Kanbar Center for the Performing Arts, you’ll see some changes on the first floor this fall. We’ve installed new carpet and repainted our rehearsal/recital hall, making it more beautiful and useful to the Chorus, and to the many organizations who share our space. Our building is truly a hub of creativity, with different arts organizations rehearsing, performing, and renting office space here almost round the clock.

Some say that creativity begets creativity, and I believe that’s true. The more creative minds, artists, and performers we bring into our physical, mental, and emotional space, the more creative we become as individuals and as an organization. As our choristers are exposed to a wider range of ideas and experiences with new artistic collaborations, new faculty and staff members, new music, and new performance experiences, their own creativity will certainly grow as well.

That’s what this year is all about at SFGC. I look forward to sharing this celebration of creativity with you!

With warm wishes,

Melanie Smith Executive Director